The eagerly awaited World Premiere of the all-new Kia Soul urban crossover at the Paris International Motor Show on 2 October marks a revolutionary expansion of the Kia product line-up.

A bold statement of Kia’s determination as one of the world’s top automotive companies, Kia Soul is destined to appeal to a whole new group of European and global consumers. It will achieve thousands of “conquest” sales for the Kia brand – appealing especially to the young and the young-at-heart.

“The innovative Kia Soul defies categorisation and encourages customers to build an emotional bond with this rebellious new car. Soul presents consumers with such a broad selection of styling, comfort and equipment choices, that it redefines the concept of freedom.  It’s a brand new urban car packed full of liberating ideas – a car that challenges consumers to ‘free your mind’, a car that will encourage them to rethink everything they know about Kia,” enthuses Panu Vainamo, General Manager Marketing, Kia Motors Europe.

Kia Soul is a five-door hatchback with front-wheel drive, a high roofline and an unusually long wheelbase. Soul will offer cavernous passenger space that matches or even outperforms many vehicles with much larger exterior dimensions. Luggage capacity is also generous –340 litres with the rear seats upright, the same as the Kia cee’d hatchback.

“Highly competitive levels of specification and state-of-the-art active and passive safety equipment will ensure that consumers convert their initial emotional attraction to Soul into a purchase decision without worrying that their heart might be unwisely overruling their head,” adds Vainamo.

When Soul goes on sale in Europe in late 2008/early 2009, customers will be able to choose from a line-up of up to 15 Soul cars, with five equipment levels, two engines (with manual or automatic transmissions), and a range of option packs – depending on individual markets.

Distinctive styling like no Kia before!
Kia Motors Corporation Chief Design Officer, Peter Schreyer, has overseen the transformation of Kia Soul from 2006 concept fantasy to its 2008 production reality.  “The new Kia Soul will be a breakthrough vehicle for Kia on its journey to be seen as a design-led company and the maker of distinctive cars which consumers aspire to own.

“Conceived in the USA, developed in Korea and fine-tuned in Europe, I strongly believe that the production Kia Soul urban crossover is a completely resolved design that has successfully achieved its own distinctive style.

“The visual themes and core proportions of the original Detroit Show concept car have been largely retained, while a range of subtle styling and innovative equipment choices have been skilfully created to enable Soul to be tailored to the specific requirements of consumers in different global markets – with cars sourced from a single factory,” adds Schreyer.

Embracing the “freedom” to customise
Kia expects many Soul owners to embrace the “freedom” of this latest model by ordering the top grade model and by specifying one of the many factory fitted ‘option packs’ exclusively available for this version – to fully immerse themselves in the spirit of their new car. As with other members of the Kia family, the Kia Soul will also be available with a range of dealer-fit customizing components to suit particular family and leisure activities.

Producing a new global model
Kia Motors Corporation is planning to manufacture up to 136,000 examples of the Kia Soul annually at its Gwangju facility in Korea. The plant has been extensively refurbished for its new role, enhancing vehicle quality and greatly increasing the flexibility of the production processes to accommodate the multiple derivatives that are core to the new Kia Soul philosophy.

Overall sales volumes are expected to be split 36,000 to the domestic Korean market, 50,000 units to North America, 30,000 to Europe and 20,000 to other “General” markets worldwide.  A dedicated version of Kia Soul for the Chinese market will be produced locally in China at the rate of 40,000 units annually, starting during 2009.

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